what i really dont get is how bbm 5 uses "double the bandwidth" of reg bbm. other then the app being larger 1.1mb as oppose to 430kb.. other then new features its not like the messages are sent and received any different or am i mistaken.? my original quote was from a friend who happens to work in legal dept in rim. personally i dont think he knows the first thing about bandwidth or data usage. but knows the laws. anyone here fill me in on how the new bbm could use 2x the bandwidth as the old? im curious myself

I obviously can't say exactly how much more bandwith is used by the new BBM as compared to the old, but it stands to reason that it uses a fair amount more. These new features (i.e. avatars, recent updates, etc.) will require a certain amount of bandwidth. For example, every time you change your avatar it will be pushed to everybody that has you on their contact list. BBM 5 definitely has a higher bandwidth demand than that of old, but by how much, I can't say for certain.

Seems to me RIM has info. they could not have really just guessed at. For one, they now know there are a lot of people that are still interested in the upgrades, since the previous OSs are buggy and slow. Two, they now know their servers were inadequate to handle the extra load (don't think for a minute that a corporate big-wig would just say "ok" to bigger servers without this kind of disaster) and they are now better equipped to roll out the new BBM5 knowing they need more b/w. Three, they also know that when there is a better product on the market, people will flock to it, if that product is from the other guys, they'll lose customers.
I, too, believe this was an intentional leak. How else can you stress-test better than making it look like forbidden fruit?
JMHO, of course, your mileage may vary....